A New Fire Burns
by FlamonRoll
Summary: Sequel to I'm Done. With Roman Torchwick dead, Ozpin has promised his old friend that he would admit Neo into Beacon Academy. As her quest for revenge progresses, she meets new friends and forms bonds that will last forever.


**A/N: Sorry for making you all wait. This took longer than I had anticipated, but now that most of the series is figured out, updates won't take nearly as long. I also wanted to thank all of you for the reviews and such to I'm Done. I would never have expected such a response. Thank you all! You're the reason I'm continuing this. Alright, I'll shut up now. Enjoy.**

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Chapter 1: Spark

Neo scanned around the great hall, observing the other students. The bowler cap over her head hid part of her face. _They're just a bunch of kids. It's not like you're running from the law anymore._ Neo couldn't help but feel anxious around all of the students who would later fight against people like her. _They don't know you. To them, you're just another face in the crowd. Calm down._ She took a deep breath and tightened her grip on the cane in her left hand.

None of the first-years had probably ever seen her face, but the older students would likely have heard about her. After all, she'd been in several conflicts with two of Beacon's top teams over the past two years. The heterochromiac wouldn't be so frightened of her situation if she wasn't surrounded by her former enemies.

Neo was jolted from her thoughts as feedback from a microphone filled the hall. A stoic, proud looking man walked up to the stage and began to speak. "Good morning, students. My name is Professor Ozpin. As I'm sure you're all aware, this school is not for the faint of heart. You will be fighting monsters regularly. It is imperative that everyone understands that the teachers you learn from can only teach you so much. It is up to you to grow as a hunter and as an individual. Only then will you find your own sense of purpose. That is all."

As the former friend of Neo's father figure departed from the stage, an applause escaped the first-year students. Unlike the other kids at the academy, she already knew her purpose. Cinder would not live to destroy any more lives. Neo's knuckles grew white as her hand tightly wrapped around the cane. _I'll kill her. She'll pay for what she's done._

Neo didn't even notice the shady figure walking up to her. One swift movement, and the mute's hat disappeared from on top of her head. Confused, she frantically looked around to see if it fell on the ground. She felt a tap on her right shoulder, and when she turned to look, the cane vanished from her left hand as well. _What the actual hell?!_ Turning around again, she barely glimpsed the red feather from Roman's hat as it passed around a corner.

Neo bolted after the thief. Knowing that she couldn't ask anyone for help, she took on the task of retrieving her artifacts alone, unaware that help was just up ahead.

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 _This is gonna be awesome!_ One girl walked alone in a hallway, overly excited to reach the great hall where the headmaster of Beacon Academy would welcome her and everyone else to his prestigious school. She was so excited that she even memorized the blueprints of the building. She knew the best route to the great hall, avoiding the clutter of hundreds of new students squeezing through tight doors.

The girl nearly reached her destination, but someone bumped into her followed by a strange looking girl. The one in front looked familiar. Then it dawned on her. The same boy had tried to steal her hat earlier, but he didn't get far. The giant taser she carried saw to that.

She noticed that the boy had several objects in his hands, likely belonging to the girl that followed him. She tore off in another direction, utilizing her knowledge of the halls and take a shorter route to cut him off.

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Exhausted, Neo began to lose her target. She nearly gave up, but a voice from up ahead shouted, "Drop it, freak!" She looked up ahead and a loud buzz came from a dorky looking girl's weapon. The thief dropped to the ground, immobilized.

His attacker stood over him, taunting. "Hah! You thought you could steal again? Not on my watch!" The girl pried the items from the thief's seized up hands and began walking toward Neo. "Hey! Are these yours?" The heterochromiac nodded slowly, surprised by the way this stranger helped without hesitating. The girl handed Neo the hat and cane. "My names Llinos, but you can call me Li. What's your name?" Li wore a pair of strange looking glasses, an even stranger looking helmet, and an Achieve Men shirt. Neo fished out her scroll, and Li gave a confused look. "Uh… You too busy to tell me your name?"

After typing her name out, the multi-color haired teen showed her scroll to the girl in front of her. ' _My name's Neo. Thank you, but why did you help me?'_

After looking at the screen for a second, Li turned her attention back to Neo. "So I guess you don't talk much. Well it's nice to meet you, Neo!" She held out her hand, and Neo reluctantly shook it. "And, well, I couldn't just let him run off with your things. He tried to take my Orf helmet earlier, but he didn't get far. Old Betsy made sure of that." She patted the weapon on her back. Neo was completely lost, and Li noticed. "I guess you don't read X-Ray and Vav, huh? I freakin' LOVE those comics!" Li rambled on about how awesome the series was, pointing out her glasses which were a replica of the ones X-Ray wears.

Neo couldn't help but smile. This dorky girl before her couldn't be weirder, but she helped without a second thought. She typed another message on her scroll and showed it to her new friend. ' _Thanks again for the help, but I need to get back to the great hall. See you around.'_

Li read the words on the screen with a grin on her face. "Hey no problem! I'll see ya maybe in class! Who knows? We may even be on the same team!" Neo nodded, but then she glanced at the still paralyzed culprit lying on the ground. Li looked back at him too. "Don't worry. He'll get back up in a few minutes. Betsy's not lethal right now." Neo blinked at that. _She's crazy._ _Oh well. She's nice._ She waved at her new friend and walked back to the great hall.

The hallways were unfamiliar to Neo at this point. She had chased the pickpocket for quite a distance and didn't know exactly where she was now. After wandering around for some time, she finally found the great hall, only to be disappointed by the fact that the assembly was already over, and Neo missed the instructions on how the day would proceed. She kicked the wall in frustration. _How am I supposed to know what to do now?_

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A quiet teen with scars over his arms and hands leaned against the wall of the great hall, tinkering with his weapon. He had nearly fixed the iron sight to perfection, but a strangely dressed kid ran right past him with a weird looking girl chasing behind him. The girl brushed by him, accidentally knocking the weapon out of his hand. The boy sighed and picked up his firearm. He gave up on the sight and just split his pistol into two gloves. A flicker of pride surged through him. Such tiny mechanism took years of precision work to put together, and having it knocked to the ground didn't mess up a thing. Another voice took over the microphone that the headmaster had previously used. This time it was Professor Goodwitch. He paid close attention to her instructions. As soon as she finished talking, the fighter focused back on his gloves, cleaning away any dust residue.

He was just about to leave when he noticed the girl from before return. Her expression told him that she wasn't very happy about something, likely the fact that she missed everything that Goodwitch just said.

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Neo sat with her back against the wall. _First day and I already screwed up._ Her thoughts were interrupted by a boy standing next to her. "We're supposed to meet in the ballroom for tonight and be ready for initiation tomorrow." Neo looked up at him, slightly confused. "Whatever he stole from you must have been important if you had to knock someone's weapon out of their hand." The multi-color-haired teen blinked.

Realization hit her like freight train, and she scrambled for her scroll, quickly typing a short message. ' _I'm sorry! I didn't mean to. I hope I didn't break anything!'_

The stranger read and shook his head. "It's fine. Nothing's broken. Besides, that punk probably took something important. He's been harassing people ever since he got here. He's lucky he didn't cross me." Neo gave a silent chuckle. "My name's Phoi." The girl typed on her scroll again. ' _Neo.'_

The boy nodded at the name. "We should probably head over to the ballroom now, though I'm not sure where that is." By the time Phoi had said a word to Neo, the room was empty.

A familiar voice sounded from the hallway. "I know the way!" After she rounded the corner, her face brightened a little. "Oh! Hi Neo!" The quirky girl waved casually at them despite the fact that the very same thief from before had her taser pointed at him.

Neo glared at him. The boy chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry. I was just messin' with ya. I was gonna give them back." Neo rolled her eyes. "Name's Matt." He extended a hand to shake Neo's, Li's weapon never leaving his back. Neo hesitated, but returned the gesture begrudgingly. Neo showed him the same message she showed Phoi. "Neo, huh? Well Neo, as Li here explained very clearly, with the help of her oversized stun gun, I am not to steal anything from you again." He looked past her to the guy behind him. "Now, your friend, on the other hand, was not specified."

The brawler loomed over him, easily two feet taller than him and Neo. "Come again? And the name's Phoi."

The trickster shrunk away from his angry gaze, the awkward smile never leaving his face. Li spoke up from behind him. "I think we can add him to the agreement too."

Matt's shoulder's slumped a little. "Uuuuuuugh! … Fiiiine…"

Putting her weapon away, Li spoke again. "Now I believe we have a ballroom to go to?"

As the group walked through the halls, Matt walked closer to Neo. "Hey. I really am sorry about that. Though I can't promise that it won't happen again." Surprisingly, Neo smiled at him.

She typed another message. ' _Do it again and I'll cut you into little ribbons.'_

Matt blinked a few times to make sure he was reading it correctly. "Well... Now I can." He moved to the opposite side of the hallway.

It wasn't long before the four of them reached the ballroom. Neo typed a quick ' _Thank you'_ to Phoi. He and Matt walked over to the boys' side while Neo and Li set up on the girls' side.

Li set her blanket down. "Is it alright if I sleep next to you? You're kind of my only friend so far." Neo smiled and nodded. "Thanks."

The two were about to fall asleep when Neo typed another message on her scroll and showed it to Li. ' _Thanks for helping me get my stuff back. It means a lot.'_

Li smiled. "No problem. It's what X-Ray and Vav would have done." At that, Neo smiled and shook her head, and soon, with Roman's hat held close, she fell into the world of sleep.

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 **A/N: Again, sorry for the long wait. Things got really busy at school. I can't guarantee that any of the chapters will have a certain length, nor can I guarantee any regular updates. I'll work on this whenever I can, but it'll be a few weeks before I'm out of school, so after that, I'll have a lot of time to do this. As always, please review if you can. It will never go unappreciated. And check out The Asiassassin. He's got a fic posted that I'm collaborating with him on. Also, I want to give a huge thanks to Dr. Science. He helped me put an entire outline of the whole series together. He also came up with the team name. So kudos to him!**


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